Combined heating and air-conditioning apparatus



COMBINED HEATING AND AIR-CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed March 26, 1963 Aug. 10, 1965 c. o. VAUGHN 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

CHARLES 0. VAUGHN BY/ 21% FIG 4 W A TTORNE YS 1955 c. o. VAUGHN 3,199,580

COMBINED HEATING AND AIR-CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed March 26, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 LI I I F] i I I Kb, g

INVENTOR. FIG .6 CHARLES 0. VAUGHN Z M z z fi ATTORNEY;

A i- 5 c. o. VAUGHN 3,199,580

COMBINED HEATING AND AIR-CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed March 26, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG? b lllllll i' 'illlll llllllllnm INVENTOR- CHARLES 0. VAUGHN BY 4 a A TTORNE Y5 United States Patent 3,199,581 COMliiNED HEATWG AND AIR-CGNBITZGNTNG APPAERATUS Charles 0. Vaughn, Dayton, Tenn, assignor to Suburban Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Tennessee Filed Mar. 26, 1963, Ser. No. 263,083 1 Qlaim. (Cl. 165-64) This invention relates to a combined heating and airconditioning apparatus embodying in one casing a heating unit and an air-conditioning unit, and particularly to such an apparatus that is sufiiciently compact that it is readily adapted for mounting in the window of a house or other building. Such a unit is suitable for maintaining the proper temperature in a building the year round. Thus, in the summer when it is desired to cool the air within the building, the air-conditioning unit will operate for that purpose, with the heating unit being out of operation; while in the Winter, when heating is necessary, the heatin' unit will function, with the air-conditioning unit being out of operation.

The heating unit generally is of a type disclosed in my United States Patent No. 2,864,359, dated Decemberv 16, 1958, and embodies a combustion chamber, a heat exchanger and a blower for blowing air over the heat exchanger, Where it is heated, and into the room. The airconditioning unit may be of conventional structure in that it embodies the usual compressor, condenser, evaporating coils, fan for causing air to pass over the condenser coils to dissipate the heat of compression over the compressed refrigerant, and to be discharged to the outside atmos phere, and a blower to cause the air to pass over the evaporator coils, where it is cooled, and into the room where cooling is desired.

In order to provide an apparatus of this kind which includes both a heating unit and air conditioning unit it is essential that the various parts be so arranged as to occupy a very minimum of space inasmuch as the width of the average window casing is limited, and it is also desirable to have the height of the apparatus as low as possible. To this end in accordance with the invention, the heat exchange device of the heating apparatus and the evaporator device of the air conditioning apparatus are constructed to have substantially the same air flow areas and they are mounted in juxtaposition to one another side by side, and, advantageously, the blower is arranged with its intake in contact with one side of this assembly. These devices are disposed within the inner compartment of the apparatus casing and, advantageously are in vertical position; also the heat exchange device is arranged next to the air intake opening to this compartment and the evaporator device is disposed next to the heat exchanger and in contact therewith, the casing of the blower having the inlet opening is also disposed substantially in contact with the opposite side of the heat exchange device. Air is drawn by the blower over or through the heat exchanger and over the evaporator coils into the blower intake. A single motor drives the blower and fan, the motor and fan being mounted in the outer compartment of the casing, and the fan causing air to be drawn in through the coils of the condenser of the air conditioning unit to the interior of the casing and discharged through two openings, one at the rear of the unit and the other in one side wall. The combined areas of these outlet openings are smaller than the area of the air inlet opening through the condenser to the fan thus to provide a diiference in pressure which will force air into the combustion chamber of the heating unit when a valve provided in a passageway to this combustion chamber is opened.

The invention will be further described in connection with the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention.

3,199,580 Patented Aug. 10, 1965 In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the combined heating and air-conditioning apparatus of the invention, looking from the front;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the combined heating and air-conditioning apparatus of FIG. 1 looking from the rear;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 5;

of two telescoping sections 1a and 1b for convenience of assembly.

The heating unit is generally of the type disclosed in my aforementioned United States Patent No. 2,864,359, and comprises a combustion chamber 2, heat exchanger 3 comprising a plurality of heat-exchanger sections 3' connected at their respective ends to the combustion chamber 2 and to an upper manifold 3", and an exhaust conduit 4 connected to the manifold 3" and leading therefrom to the exterior of the casing. Fuel, preferably gas, is supplied to the burners in the combustion chamber from a source of supply through a supply pipe 5 and the conventional regulators and safety devices indicated generally at 6.

The air-conditioning unit, which is of conventional structure, comprises a motor-compressor 7, a condenser 8 mounted in a housing 8 and evaporator 9. The compressed refrigerant from the motor-compressor passes through the conduit 11 to the condenser where heat of compression is removed. The cooled refrigerant from the condenser passes through a conduit 12 to the evaporator Where it is expanded to produce the desired cooling.

The casing 1 is divided by a bulkhead 13 into an inner compartment and an outer compartment, with respect to its position in a window.

The heating unit is located in the inner compartment and the motor-compressor 7 and condenser of the airconditioning unit are located in the outer compartment. The evaporator is located in the inner compartment, just back of the heat exchanger of the heating unit.

A motor 14 is mounted in the outer compartment and has one end of its driving shaft extending through the bulkhead into the inner compartment. The end of the driving shaft in the outer compartment has a fan 15 mounted thereon, while the end located inthe innercompartment has a squirrel cage type blower 16 mounted thereon. The fan 15 is mounted in an opening 8? in the inner wall of the housing 8' for the condenser.

The bulkhead 13 is offset, as at 17, to provide a spac for the blower 16.

The evaporator 9, which has the usual coils, is located directly in front of the blower 16 and directly behind the heat exchanger of the heating unit.

The lower portion of the bulkhead 13, adjacent the air intake end of the combustion chamber 2, is provided with an opening for air for combustion. An air conduit 19 communicates with the opening and extends a short distance into the outer compartment. Flow of air through this conduit to the combustion chamber is controlled by a valve 21.

A control unit 22. for both the heating unit and the air-conditioning'unit is located at the front of the casing 1 and has the usual thermostatic control knob and control buttons, including Heat, $001, Off, High and Low buttons. The Heat button 23 is connected through suitable operating mechanism to the valve 23.; the arrangement being such that when the Heat button is pushed inwardly to place the heating unit in operation, the valve 21 is opened to permit flow of air from the outer compartment through conduit 19 into the combustion chamber, and when the Heat button is pulled or pushed out, the valve 21 is closed.

The lower portion of the front wall of the casing 1 comprises a grill 24 which permits free flow of air from the room into the inner compartment and around the heat-exchanger sections 3 and the evaporator coils 9. The upper portion of the front of the casing, except for the portion thereof occupied by the control unit 22, is in the form of a grid 25, which permits air which is passed around the heat-exchanger coils and evaporator coils to be discharged back into the room. The blower 16 causes such flow of air. From FIG. 5 it will be noted that the heat exchanger 3, condenser 8, evaporator 9, motor 34, fan 15 and blower 36 are closer to one side of the casing than the other. To more or less restrict the flow of air from the room into the inner compartment to that portion thereof occupied by the heat exchanger and evaporator coil, a horizontal partition 26 extends entirely across the inner compartment. This partition extends entirely over the heat-exchange sections and partially over the top of the evaporator. To further confine the inflow of air to that portion of the inner chamber occupied by the heat-exchanger sections and the evaporator-coils, a vertical partition 27 (FIG. 5) which is substantially aligned with the end 23 of the evaporator and the offset 17 of the bulkhead 13 extends from the top of the combustion chamber 2 (PEG. 3) to the horizontal partition 26.

The entire rear wall of the casing is in the form of a grill 29. The edge wall 31 0f the housing 8 of the condenser abuts the inside Wall of the rear grill 29 (FIGS. 2 and 7) and divides it into a relatively large section 32 for intake of air into the outer compartment and a relatively small section 33 for exhaust of air from the outer compartment. of the casing remote from the edge wall 33 of the condenser housing also is provided with a grill 3d for exhaust of air from the outer compartment. The grill 34 is so located that when the combined heating and airconditioning apparatus is mounted in a window of a building air exhausting from the outer compartment through the grill 34 will pass to the outside atmosphere.

Assuming that the combined heating and air-conditioning apparatus is mounted in the room of a building, and it is desired to use it for heating purposes, the Heat button 23 will be pushed inwardly. This will simultaneuosly start the motor 14, open valve 21 and start the burner in the combustion chamber. Since the fan 15 and blower 16 are both connected to the driving shaft of the motor, they also will be put into operation. The air-conditioning unit will remain inoperative. The fan 15 will pull air from the outside through the relatively large section 32. of the rear grill 29 into the outer compartment. As the area of the section 32 of the rear grill is relatively large compared to the combined areas of the smaller rear section 31 of the grill Z9 and the side grill 34-, a pressure differential will be established which will force air through the conduit w-into the combustion chamber for combustion with fuel supplied through the supply line 5.

The hot products of combustion from the combustion chamber pass through the heat-exchanger sections 3' and into the manifold 3" and thence into the exhaust conduit from which they are discharged through the rear wall to the outside atmosphere. The combustion gases in passing through the heat exchanger sections 3' heat them to relatively high temperature.

The rotation of the blower it? draws air from the room across the heat-exchanger sections, where it is heated,

The rear portion of the side Wall the evaporator coils 9, and into the squirrel cage of th blower. However, since the air-conditioning unit is not operating, the evaporator coils are not cold and therefore do not have a cooling effect on the air. The air heated by passing over the hot heat-exchanger sections 3 is forced outwardly through the bars of the cage of the blower, over the horizontal partition 2d and through the grid 25 back into the room. To direct the how of air from the blower so that it will flow as just described, a guard 35 is placed partially around the circumference of the biower. vi/hen the Off button 35 is pushed to shut off the heating unit, the valve 2-1 automatically will be moved to closed position.

When it is desired to operate the apparatus as an air conditioner, the Cool button 27 is pushed inwardly. This simultaneously starts the motor-compressor i, to set the air-conditioning mechanism into operation, and the motor The motor-compressor compresses the refrigerant of the air-conditioning unit and forces it through the conduit 11 to the condenser S where it flows through the coils thereof. Simultaneously, the fan 15 draws air from the outside through the large section 32 of the rear grill, across the condenser coils, to absorb the heat of compression of the refrigerant, and into the rear compartment. This heated air is discharged from the rear compartment through the small section 33 of the rear grill and the side grill 34 to the outside atmosphere. Since the valve 21 is closed during the operation of the air-conditioning unit, none of the hot air from he outer compartment can pass through the combustion chamber 2 to the heat-exchanger sections 3 to heat them.

The compressed refrigerant with the heat of compression now removed therefrom, passes through conduit 12 into the evaporator 9 where it is expanded with resultant cooling of the evaporator coils. As the blower 16 as well as the fan 15 is mount d on the motor shaft, it also operates during the operation of the air-conditioning unit as well as during operation of the heating unit. Consequently, it pulls air from the room through the grill 24 around the heat-exchanger section 3' and evaporator coils where it is cooled, and forces it over the horizontal partition 26 back into the room. Since the heating unit is not operating, and also since the heatexchanger sections 3 are shut off from the flow of air which was heated by passing over the condenser coils hey are at room temperature and have no effect as far as changing the temperature of the air flowing around them.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that the combined heating and air-conditioning apparatus of the present invention is of such compact construction that it readily may be mounted in the Window of the average home. It has the further advantage that the same motor, fan and biower are used both as a part of the heating unit and as a part of the air-conditioning unit, thereby contributing to the compactness of the a paratus as well as reducing its over-all cost.

It is to be understood that various changes may be made in the details of the combined heating and air-conditioning unit described herein without sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention or departing from the scope of the appended claim.

I ciairn:

In a combined heating and air conditioning apparatus comprising a casing adapted for mounting in the window of a house, the casing having inner and outer compartments separated by a bulkhead extending from the bottom to the top of the casing and from side to side thereof, the front wall of the inner compartment coinciding with the front wall of the casing and being located within the house and the rear wall of the outer compartment and a portion of tie side Walls thereof being located outside the house, a heating unit including a combustion chamber, a heat exchange device through which products of combustion from the combustion chamber are passed and an exhaust conduit for combustion gasses which have passed through the heat exchange device, an air conditioning unit including a compressor for a refrigerant, a condenser and an evaporator device, a fan for causing a flow of air in heat exchange relationship with said condenser for removal of heat of compression from the compressed refrigerant, a blower for circulating air through the heat exchange device and the evaporator device and discharging the air within the inner compartment, a motor operative to drive said fan and blower, the heat exchange device, the evaporator device and the blower being disposed within the inner compartment, and the compressor, condenser, fan and said motor being disposed in the outer compartment, the heat exchange device and the evaporator device being substantially c0- extensive in air flow area and being disposed in juxtaposition to one another side by side and the blower being arranged with its intake adjacent such assembly for causing air to flow successively in heat exchange relationship with said exchange device and evaporator device, respectively, and then through said blower, the front wall of the inner compartment having an air intake area in the lower portion thereof and an air discharge area lengthwise of the upper portion thereof, the evaporator and heat exchange devices being also coextensive in length with each other and with the length of the air intake and discharge areas, said assembly extending along the intake area below the discharge area and into the inner compartment so that the air issuing from the blower is directed by the Walls of the compartment and by said assembly to said disccharge area, the rear wall of the outer compartment also having therein an air inlet and outlet and the fan being arranged to draw air through said inlet and through the condenser and to discharge air through the rear wall outlet. 4

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,401,560 6/46 Graham et a1 48 X 2,730,873 1/56 Hardin et a1 62429 X 2,739,794 3/56 Graham 16530 X 2,773,676 12/56 Boyle et a1 16559 2,835,476 5/58 Kohut 165-27 X 2,986,016 5/61 Gillham 62409 X 3,021,696 2/62 Spiegelhalter 62427 X 3,022,647 2/62 Nullin 62427 X 3,036,382 5/62 Shotton 165-30 X ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner.

CHARLES SUKALO, Examiner. 

